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Round-up of Nuclear Weapons News

The New York Times’ editorial, “Watershed Moment on Nuclear Arms,” highlights important steps President Obama can take on nuclear weapons, especially negotiating with Russia for deep reductions in our nuclear stockpiles:

During the 2008 campaign, President Obama promised to deal with one of the world’s great scourges — thousands of nuclear weapons still in the American and Russian arsenals. He said he would resume arms-control negotiations — the sort that former President George W. Bush disdained — and seek deep cuts in pursuit of an eventual nuclear-free world. There is no time to
waste.

“My double radiation exposure is now an
official government record. It can tell the younger generation the
horrifying history of the atomic bombings even after I die,” Yamaguchi
was quoted as saying by the nationwide Mainichi newspaper.

The five Central Asian nations of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan joined together to create a nuclear-weapon-free zone, which entered into force on Saturday. This new zone joins those already established in Latin America and the Caribbean, the South Pacific, Southeast Asia and Africa.

Rep. Tauscher (D-CA), chair of the Strategic Forces Subcommittee and representing the district that has the Livermore Labs, is being tapped by Sec. Clinton to serve as the Undersecretary of State for Arms Control and International Security, the agency’s top arms control negotiator. Read more here, and Rep. Tauscher’s statement on the appointment here.